Gratitude
by SatineSatire
Summary: It's an Avengers Thanksgiving at Tony and Natasha's place. Fluff, set after Fire and Ice, when they are already married.


Disclaimer: Marvel owns these awesome characters, except for Elizabeth who is mine.

Author's Note: Just a bit of Thanksgiving fluff. :) I have plans to make a Tony/Tash Christmas fic as well in the next month. Thank you for those that continue to leave me reviews on Fire and Ice!

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"Sir, Natasha is requesting your presence upstairs."

Tony looked up from the piece he was soldering onto his most current Iron Man suit and paused, then pulled off his safety goggles. "Thanks, Jarvis. Tell her I'll be up in a minute." He set aside his equipment and stifled a yawn, running his fingers through his hair.

"Yes, sir."

Tony went upstairs and found his wife straightening up the living room. "What's the matter, baby?" he asked, then noticed she was wearing a short dark green dress and had her hair loosely pinned up. "Mm, you look nice." He smiled and pulled her back against him, kissing her neck.

"Thank you." Natasha turned around to face him and kissed him, then laughed. "You've forgotten what today is, haven't you?"

Tony blinked at her, stroking her hips, and cocked his head to the side. "It's Tuesday."

"Try Thursday."

"That was going to be my second guess." He grinned.

She smirked, and laughed again. "Take a look in the dining room."

Tony reluctantly let go of her body but walked over to peer into the doorway. The dining room table was set and beautifully decorated, with catered food set out. When he spotted the turkey he laughed at himself.

"Thanksgiving already?"

"Funny how that happens once a year," she answered, coming up behind him. Though she was not American she had begun to celebrate holidays since she had befriended the other Avengers. "Go up and shower, love."

The doorbell rang and Jarvis announced Pepper and Happy's arrival.

"I'll get that," she said and Tony nodded before he went upstairs to get ready.

Family holidays had been unpleasant for him. When he was a little boy his parents had been occupied with their social galas and charities. He wondered if it might have been different if he had had siblings. If he and his parents were together for holidays the dinners were stiff, stilted affairs and when he became old enough to go to boarding school, he used the excuse of school assignments and exams to avoid going home. It looked perfect on the outside, and he never wanted for anything material but it was not until he became involved with Natasha that he realized – or more likely, allowed himself to acknowledge – how painfully lonely he had been for much of his life.

Tony showered quickly and then got dressed in a black suit with a red shirt and black tie. Black and red were his favorite colors. It was not lost on him that black and red were also the colors of a black widow spider. He grinned to himself. At least to him, Natasha's bark was worse than her bite.

Though he did enjoy her biting him on occasion…

He put on his shoes and went up to the dresser. For some reason he was always indecisive about what watch to wear, and as usual, Natasha had selected one for him and her taste was exquisite. As he fastened it, he thought about their marriage. Six months, and they were still considered newlyweds in the media, as could be evidenced by the Iron Man and Black Widow limited edition Wedding Barbies. He thought it was hilarious and had bought one set; Natasha had been less amused and threatened to burn it though had yet to follow through. The dolls were currently sitting on one of his computer desks in the basement.

Tony idly thought that Christmas was coming up and that he wanted to give Natasha something special for their first Christmas as a married couple. His quick mind retraced old conversations and he smiled as he zeroed in something she had mentioned once a few years ago.

He may not remember holidays or know what day of the week it was, but he had an excellent memory for the things that truly mattered to him.

Tony headed downstairs, and saw that their friends had begun to arrive. In addition to Pepper and Happy, Steve and Sarah were there. He greeted everyone and eyed Steve.

"So, when are you putting a bun in her oven?" he asked casually.

Steve turned red and sputtered, appalled that of all things that was what Tony greeted them with. "We _just_ got married! And that's none of your business!"

Tony waved his hand dismissively. "A whole month ago. You want the American dream, don't you? House, dog, 2.5 children…"

"We already have the house and dog," Sarah said mildly, and laughed, although her cheeks were pink.

"Tony, quit teasing them," Natasha said, coming over to hand him a glass of wine.

"You've been married longer," Happy observed from where he stood beside Pepper. "Where's your kid?"

"It's not been for lack of try—" Tony's breath whooshed out when Natasha elbowed him smartly in his belly.

"Can you imagine a mini-Tony?" Pepper asked, not sure whether to find that adorable or terrifying.

Tony preened at the thought.

Natasha smirked and shook her head. "Honestly… I'm not even certain I want to have children. I don't think I have much of a maternal instinct. The thought of being responsible for a child is… frightening." Not to mention all the things that could go wrong when dangerous and powerful people wanted to kill you, she thought.

Tony put his arm around her waist and kissed her temple. "Whatever you want, babe. If you end up deciding you want it to just be the two of us, I'm fine with that." All that mattered to him was that he had her and was continuing to make a positive difference in the world to atone for his past selfishness and carelessness.

She smiled up at him, and then looked away quickly. Sometimes she felt she didn't deserve to be loved by a man like him.

"But, I definitely think you two will be the first of any of us to have a kid," Tony continued, looking at the Rogers.

"We do want to have kids, but not right away," Sarah said. "I'd have to be taken off active duty and take a desk job, and I'm not ready for that just yet. So we'll just busy ourselves with taking care of Hershey."

Steve smiled at the mention of their chocolate lab puppy. "We're just going to enjoy being married." Life was finally the way he wanted and he was more than happy with his wife. Although he still didn't always feel like he quite fit in, it had become less painful. His friends accepted him and he had a purpose in life again.

Bruce and Clint eventually trickled in to join them. Thor was in Asgard. Although he was always ready and willing to assist in helping and defending Earth, his responsibilities as future king, engagement to Lady Sif, and working to help his brother redeem himself and atone for his crimes often kept him in Asgard.

Everyone made their way to the dining room and took their seats. Pepper looked around at everyone and smiled shyly. "I know Thanksgiving is a time to get together as families. Most of us don't have our families anymore. At least not the one that we were born into. I think we've all become a family through choice and circumstances. If it's all right with everyone, I think it might be nice if we just all take a turn saying what we're thankful for today. I can start."

"Go ahead, Pepper," Tony said as the others nodded.

Pepper smiled. "I'm thankful today that all of you are safe and aren't off fighting monsters or robots or any of the assorted bad guys we've become accustomed to… and I'm thankful that I'm spending the holidays with Happy."

Happy flushed but smiled brightly at his girlfriend. "Well, I'm thankful for Pepper because she's the most wonderful woman I've ever known. I'm thankful that my boss is happy, and I'm thankful that his wife hasn't beat me up again."

Natasha laughed. "You're never going to let me forget that are you?" she asked him.

Happy laughed. "Nope."

Clint cleared his throat. "Hmm… I'm thankful that even though Bobbi has to work overseas today that I am going to see her in a few days. And I'm thankful that Natasha found someone that can easily support her addiction to buying weapons," he said with a grin.

Tony laughed and Natasha made a little face at her friend, but then laughed as well.

"Well… I'm thankful that I have made friends in spite of my little Hulk problem," Bruce said with a small smile. "I'm thankful I don't have to spend most of my time hidden away for fear of harming others. I'm thankful my best friend isn't afraid of me, though I suspect that may be simply a perk of her having a healing factor as a power. Which incidentally, makes for fascinating research but I'm getting off track. Most of all, even though she can't be here with me today, I'm thankful that Betty is giving me a second chance."

Sarah laughed softly. "I still can't believe Elizabeth is allowing you to study her."

"What can I say? Nagging really does work," Bruce said with a wider smile, and everyone laughed.

Sarah looked over at her husband and smiled. "I'm thankful for having Steve as my husband, for the start of what I know will be our long life together, for our friends, and of course, for our puppy Hershey."

Steve gently took her hand in his, and lifted it to his lips so he could kiss the back of her hand tenderly. "I'm so very thankful that Sarah came into my life. After Peggy and waking up in a different time, I never thought…" he trailed off and smiled when he felt Sarah squeeze his hand reassuringly. "I'm thankful she agreed to become my wife, thankful that I have made friends, and thankful that Bucky is becoming more like his old self."

When it was Natasha's turn, she looked around the table and briefly bit her lower lip. These were people she was willing to die for and trusted, but it still was difficult for her to open up and talk about her feelings. "I don't remember my family." It wasn't the complete truth. She recalled her parents' deaths, but everything else was hazy. "I never thought I would have one of my own. For a long time I didn't want one, and then when I could admit to myself that I did, I didn't think I deserved one because of all the blood on my hands. Sometimes I still don't think I do. But I am so grateful that I have Tony and even though I'm not sure that I'm worthy of it, I am so thankful that he loves me." By the end her throat ached and she had to reach for her glass of wine.

"Tash," Tony murmured and when she looked up he leaned over to kiss her softly. He knew how private she still was and how much of an effort it had taken for her to speak about her feelings for him in front of their friends.

Natasha returned the kiss and pulled back to gaze at him, smiling. "Don't think you're off the hook. It's your turn, Tony."

"We all know what a hard time I have making speeches and being the center of attention," Tony said with a straight face, ignoring Steve's barely muffled snort. "What am I thankful for? I'm thankful to be alive. I'm thankful that I was given the opportunity to do something with my life that actually means something. I'm thankful to have friends that put up with me." He looked at Natasha and his expression softened. "I'm thankful Tash decided to take a chance on me, and become my family. It's… I never really felt I had one until now. Tash, you know everything about me – the good, the bad, the ugly. And you still chose to marry me. You still stay. I won't ever be able to tell you how much I love you or how much that means to me. So out of everything in my life, I'm thankful for you, baby."

Natasha groaned a bit at the cheering and applause that followed but she smiled at her husband and kissed him. "Guess we're stuck with each other."

"I sure hope so, otherwise it's going to be a bitch to return the monogrammed towels." Tony smirked. "And, I'll also miss you."

"Smart ass." Natasha grinned briefly and then turned to their guests. "Time to eat. Since I don't trust Tony with sharp objects… Steve, would you do the honors?"

Tony smiled lazily as he sipped his wine; glad to let someone else do to the hard work. He gazed around at their friends, the conversation good and the camaraderie apparent. He wasn't a perfect man but he was doing his best to keep his promise.

He was no longer wasting his life, and he would never cease to be grateful to Yinsen for that.


End file.
